This site showcases the selected work - both photographic and written - of Dave Berry in my 44-plus years as a journalist, spanning stints as a war correspondent in Vietnam and daily newspaper editor in Kansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Texas.

My Photography

I never thought of myself as a fulltime professional photographer, but photography was always a key piece of what I thought a journalist should be. I learned photography at Kansas State University, on a 4x5 SpeedGraphic. When the instructor hands you two wooden slides with two sheets of film in each, you get real selective about what you shoot. You train yourself to be patient and to envision the finished shot before you trip the shutter. There aren't a lot of do-overs. It made me appreciate the photographers of the day who captured wars and breaking news with that bulky camera. For a short time, I shot with a Yashica D and its mid-size format, but after being handed a 35mm camera while training to be a military journalist, I never looked back. I bought my first semi-professional camera in Vietnam - a Pentax Spotmatic with a couple of lenses. Since then, I've shot with Nikons and Canons, both film and digital. Much of my work has never been published.

The photo at left is called, I've Got Your Back, a different view of the "Three Servicemen" Statue at "The Wall" in Washington, D.C. Vets like it, and I've presented it to a number of Texas veterans groups. I'm proud to say it hangs in the new Veterans Home north of Tyler, a VFW Hall in Palestine and the American Freedom Museum in Bullard. Since retirement, I use my camera more than ever, bought a new camera body and a few lenses... and tackled astrophotography. I'll share my successes when they come. Please explore my galleries. I believe every picture tells a story, and a few words accompany each shot. I hope you enjoy the journey.

In recent years, I wrote a weekly column called Focal Point for the Tyler Morning Telegraph in Tyler, TX. Those columns covered lots of topics and were accompanied by photos illustrating my main point. I have included a selection of Columns & News Articles here.

Because my primary job in civilian life was editing and managing newsrooms, I didn't do a lot of writing until recently, but I do enjoy telling a good story. Two of my favorite columns involve Vietnam's Warrior-Poet Michael Davis O'Donnell and a special meeting with Bob Hope in Long Binh. Many of my news articles involve military themes such as Silence in the Gardens of Stone, about one of several visits to Arlington National Cemetery, several ventures to Washington accompanying groups of World War II veterans on Heroes Flights, and Forged By War, a journey through the military memorials that fill the nation's capital.

Other pieces are as varied as lessons learned working in a Kansas grain elevator, Knowing When to Get Off,Sky Vu in My Reaview Mirror about a long-overdue going home to my roots, Above it All at Acoma, about a memorable trip to Sky City, and Where the Buffalo Roamed, a piece about the pasture returning to prairie on our Kansas farm. I hope you like these. Many of my columns are getting hard to find online - even when you know to look for them, so I'm posting my favorites here. Hope you like these, and please come back from time to time as I add others. Enjoy.